Market intelligence from Infontetics Research says that the security market is shifting away from standalone systems as customers look for more integrated systems.

The firm’s second quarter (2Q13) Network Security Appliances and Software market share and forecast report highlighted that integrated security appliances have gained share every quarter since 4Q11, and Infonetics (News - Alert) is forecasting quarterly share gains through 2Q1.

The findings come on the heels of recent NSA headlines, which have had many organizations rethink their security strategies.


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“There’s never been a time when the world was more tuned-in to broad privacy and security issues, and with the recent revelations about the NSA's PRISM surveillance program, consumers and businesses around the globe are re-evaluating their security posture, preferred vendors, and deployment strategies,” notes Jeff Wilson, principal analyst for security at Infonetics Research (News - Alert), in a statement.

According to the research report, network security appliance and software revenue totaled $1.6 billion in 2Q13, an increase of 4 percent sequentially.

Security is on the minds of everyone since former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked details of several top-secret United States and British government mass surveillance programs to the press.

According to internal NSA audits leaked to the Washington Post, privacy breaches have occurred 2,776 times in one year ending in May 2012, consisting of mostly “unauthorized surveillance of Americans or foreign intelligence targets in the United States.”

"Most were unintended. Many involved failures of due diligence or violations of standard operating procedure," the Post article said. "The most serious incidents included a violation of a court order and unauthorized use of data about more than 3,000 Americans and green-card holders."

One of the leaks included a program known as XKeyscore, which is able to track e-mail and online chats.

The NSA claims the program is only used to legally obtain information about foreign targets requested by leaders with the intent to protect the nation and its interests.

“While it’s too early to say if the NSA debacle will have an impact on security spending, one trend in the security sector is clear: buyers are looking to consolidate security platforms wherever they can. The resulting contraction in standalone security products is directly attributed to two things: customers moving to integrated product solutions that support the functions of the original standalone products with adequate performance and security, and customers transitioning away from product-centric security rollouts to hosted/SaaS (News - Alert) solutions,” said Wilson.